


Switched at Rebirth

by Carrie_Poppins



Category: BNA: Brand New Animal (Anime)
Genre: Gen, One Shot, Role Reversal, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 08:14:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25347538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carrie_Poppins/pseuds/Carrie_Poppins
Summary: What if Michiru had been the one that transformed first and was subsequently kidnapped? How would she react? What would change? And where would she eventually end up?
Relationships: Kagemori Michiru & Barbara Rose, Kagemori Michiru & Jackie, Kagemori Michiru & Ogami Shirou
Comments: 20
Kudos: 157





	Switched at Rebirth

“Ogami, have you seen this?”

Shirou frowned curiously at the tablet the mayor handed him, open to a video clip that someone had posted on EweTube. The title was no help; all it said was  _ THE LEGEND IS REAL, GUYS!!!! _ It looked like it was a big hit, though. The video had only been posted yesterday, and it already had over five hundred thousand views.

“What is it?” he asked flatly, taking the device

Mayor Rose didn't answer. She just frowned up at him, her pinkish eyes focused on his face. It was a little disconcerting, being subjected to her scrutiny, but the wolf beastman shrugged it off and pressed ‘play’ all the same.

The screen showed grainy footage of a group of beastmen in the slums, all gathered around some kind of bonfire. Shirou’s eyes widened as he realized that, in the middle of the fire, there was a pole, and on it a young beastman had been tied. Judging by the tinny voices shouting around, it was probably some unfortunate kid that had gotten on the wrong side of ‘The Family’. Then, somewhere in the middle of the crowd, he vaguely heard a girl’s voice shouting frantically.

_ “Stop it!”  _ the person shouted.  _ “Please, this is going too far!” _

_ “Mind your own business, girly!” _ a hippo beastman sneered.  _ “This is what happens when you don’t pay back your loans!” _

_ “I said STOP IT!!!” _

Screams and cries of shock crackled through the speaker as the entire crowd surged away from some center point. Bluish light flooded the screen, and when it faded, the people were left gaping in mixed fear and awe at a giant, silver-blue wolf, howling at the moon.

“What…” Shirou whispered, wide-eyed in shock. “What the hell is this?!”

.oOo.

_ “I did it! I passed the audition!” _

_ “No way! You’re gonna be great, Nazuna! You’ve… You… ” _

_ “Michiru?” _

_ “I’m… I’m okay… I think… Ngh!” _

_ “M-Michiru!? You’re… You’re a-!!” _

.oOo.

The slums were not the most pleasant of places to visit for someone with a nose as sharp as Shirou’s. Even so, he would bear it, because there were questions here that needed answering. He didn’t visit the slums often, didn’t know much about their hierarchy or social order, but even so, that hippo beastman from the video wasn’t exactly trying to hide. 

“Hey.”

“Eh? Wha’d’ya want?” the dark-skinned beastman grunted irritably, wiping a pudgy wrist across his forehead. 

“I want to know about that video from last night.”

The hippo morphed in an instant, his expression dark with anger, instantly flanked by a scarred white dog on one side and a black bird on the other. Instinctively, Shirou morphed in as well, his teeth bared threateningly. “I warned all yous idiots that if just  _ one more moron  _ tried to pester me about that, I’d skewer ‘em where they stood!” he snarled, a knife in one hand. 

“Don’t test me,” Shirou growled warningly. “I want to know where that girl is. The one that could turn into the Silver Wolf.”

“Ugh, how should I know?” the hippo groaned, practically throwing his arms into the air as he began to shoulder his way past him. “I ain’t some stupid cult priest er nothin’!”

Shirou seized his shoulder.

Instantly, both of the lackeys charged him. They were easy pickings, though. All the wolf had to do was throw the pair of them over his shoulder, sending them careening into some wooden boards, and they were both through. The hippo gaped at him, losing the cigar that had been stuck between his teeth. It was all Shirou could do to bite back his grim amusement. “I’ll ask again,” he rumbled, “What information can you give me about the girl?” 

“I… I really don’t know nothin’! But… Jackie. Try talkin’ ta Jackie. That was the brat the Silver Wolf jumped in to save. If anybody knows where to find ‘er, it’d be her.”

.oOo.

_ “Let go of me, you freaks! Who the hell even are you?! Someone help!!” _

_ “Shut her up before she gets lets the whole neighborhood know we’re here!” _

_ “Help, I’m being kidnapped! Some- MMph!” _

_ “Get her in the van!” _

_ “M-Michiru? Michiru!!” _

_ “Hurry it up, idiots! Hey, stand back, you!” _

_ “What are you doing to Michiru?! Let go of her! Agh!” _

_ “Let’s go! Hurry!” _

.oOo.

It took a lot less time than Shirou had expected to track down ‘Jackie’. The little bear beastman looked far too cheerful for someone that had nearly been burned at the stake the day before, skipping alongside the dirty riverbed without a care in the world. 

“Are you Jackie?” he asked quietly.

“Hm? Oh, yep! That’s me~!” the bear giggled brightly, waving one paw over her head.

“You’re the kid the Silver Wolf saved yesterday?”

“Yep!! I love that Silver Wolf lady! She didn’t know me or nothin’, but she jumped in the moment she saw I was in trouble! She really is a god among beastmen, you know, because she’ll save anyone that needs it! It was incredible; we all think so!”

“…Right,” Shirou frowned. “Do you know where I can find her?”

“Huh? Well that’s the strange thing about it, y’know? I thought it was my gorilla friend, but she hasn’t been home since it happened, so I don’t know anymore, y’know?”

“Gorilla friend?” Shirou frowned.

“That’s right! Sara! She’s  _ so _ good at baseball, but she wouldn’t be on our team because she’s not a bear and even when we tried to tell her that didn’t matter she still didn’t wanna play so we lost the championship and it was so sad! But she still helped our team practice and then she saved me, or at least I  _ think _ she saved me, so it’s all okay!” Jackie jabbered back at a mile a minute. 

“Where does she live?”

“This way!”

The bear zipped through the narrow streets like an arrow from a bow. It was still relatively easy for Shirou to keep up with her, though; her scent was pretty distinctive. Before long, they managed to reach a small hovel with a thin curtain for a door. Jackie dashed in, calling for Sara, only for her shoulders to drop in disappointment. 

“She’s still not back,” the little bear sighed. “I hope she comes back soon.”

Shirou glanced curiously at the beastman even as he moved towards a makeshift desk in the corner, made of a warped wooden board and an old water drum and arrayed with a stack of papers and a stubby little pencil. There were no personal belongings in sight, not even a change of clothes or a blanket, which would imply that ‘Sara’ had not been planning on coming back. “Your… friend. What is she like?”

“Sara is awesome! Even though she wouldn’t be our pitcher, she always practiced with us and she was always super nice and she always had money, but she never gave us any but that was okay because she always had food and she was always happy to share that with us! Sara was so nice and pretty and kind and we aaaaallll love her!”

“Hm. What does she look like?” Shirou prompted as he picked up the stubby pencil, breathing deeply of its scent. It was… unusual somehow. Distinctive and yet… muddled. Like it was a combination of many scents at once, not just one. 

“Hm. Well she had kinda bluish-orangish fur-”

“Bluish-orangish?”

“Yeah! Like blue in some places and orange in other places.”

“Hm. Continue.”

“Well she was big and strong and pretty and awesome~!!”

“I see. And in human form?”

“I dunno. I never saw her in human form.”   
“She never took human form?” Shirou frowned. That was strange.

“Nope! But she was still-” Jackie took a deep breath and thrust both paws in the air “-AWESOME!!!”

“…Right.”

.oOo.

_ “Test number two hundred and twenty-three. Start.” _

_ “…” _

_ “I said  _ start.”

_ “No.” _

_ “…Must we do this again?” _

_ “I don’t wanna do this! Just leave me alone; I wanna go home!” _

_ “You don’t get that choice, Miss Kagemori.” _

_ “I don’t care! I don’t want to be whatever it is you’re trying to turn me into, got it?! I’m not some kind of tool for you creeps to use however you want; I’m human and I have rights!” _

_ “You’re not human. Not anymore. You’re a beastman, as well as our responsibility. And since  _ we _ are the ones taking care of you, you must do as we say.” _

.oOo.

Shirou paused in the middle of a dark alley just a few blocks away from the old Rabbit Town, now more of a ghost town since he caught and exposed the beastman traffickers hidden there. He paused, sniffing carefully, but there could be no doubt. The scent that he had been following up to that point had gone  _ upwards. _ Frowning, he morphed into his wolf form and kicked off the nearest wall, springing from brick to brick until he’d reached the rooftop. There he was forced to stop, turning on the spot as he continued to sniff. 

The scent had vanished. 

It had definitely led up here, but now it was completely gone. The wolf beastman growed in frustration. He’d been so close, too; he was certain of it! The scent had been growing stronger and stronger, so where had it disappeared to? Gorillas couldn’t fly, and the sort of chemical that could erase scents would be far too difficult to obtain for someone living in the slums to obtain. 

_ Unless… _

What was it that Jackie had said? Sara always seemed to have money. Could she possibly be some sort of anti-beastman front terrorist, cleverly living in the slums to divert suspicion? 

“I suppose that it’s possible,” Mayor Rose said slowly when he brought the idea up with her later that evening. “I’ll have Chief Tachiki keep his eyes open for any beastman that matches this…  _ Sara’s _ description, but without knowing her human appearance, it will be difficult to track her down.”

“I’ll keep searching, too,” Shirou grunted, turning back to the door. “I have her scent now. If she’s still in the city, I should be able to find her.”

.oOo.

_ “Wake up. Wake up, Miss Kagemori.” _

_ “Wh-What? Gah-! Wh-Who the heck are you?! And what the hell are you doing in my room?!?” _

_ “Sh! I’m here to help you, Miss Kagemori.” _

_ “…Help me?” _

_ “That’s right. I want to help you escape this place, Kagemori Michiru.” _

_ “…Okay then. Help me out of here.” _

.oOo.

Three days after the video of the Silver Wolf appearing in the slums went viral, Kuro found something. Following the bird’s direction, he quickly found signs of a beastman with a familiar scent. It was a bit strange though. It didn’t quite match Sara’s scent, but it was still close enough to it to catch his attention. Still, it was the first lead he’d had through this entire mess, and he wasn’t going to waste it. 

Twenty minutes later, the wolf found himself on the trail of a young female cheetah beastman with what appeared to be a dyed-teal tail and hair. 

_ Bluish-orangish fur, huh? Could this person be connected to Sara then? Could the dye be their organization’s calling card? Seems strange, but I suppose it’s possible.  _

He kept his distance, but continued to watch the strange beastman. She seemed to be new in town--she had a new job at the grocer’s, where a long-time worker cautiously confirmed her name as Nakano. However, beyond the strangeness surrounding her scent, the only similarity between Nakano and Sara was their fur color and the fact that she never once took her human form. Her newness was a little suspicious, but there was nothing that he could inherently use to accuse her of any wrong-doing. 

Until she went home. 

The apartment that Nakano returned to appeared to be new, too. It was tiny; a single-bedroom place with very little ornamentation in an area of town that had pretty low rent. Shirou managed to find a perch on a nearby rooftop that looked into her kitchen. He took his wolf form there, closing his eyes and breathing deeply to gather the scents around him. Nakano was definitely the only person in the apartment, but something about her scent still seemed strange. Muddled, just like the scent in Sara’s little hovel had been. Then, mysteriously, it seemed to shift. Confused, Shirou opened his eyes, just in time to see, not a cheetah reaching out to pull the curtain closed, but a tanuki with a teal tail and hair 

“What the hell?” Shirou stared in shock. He’d been certain there was no one else in the apartment. He was  _ still  _ certain that there was no one else in the apartment. So, the cheetah had turned into a tanuki?!

_ Is that even possible!? _

The tanuki girl suddenly stiffened, her gaze snapping up towards the top of the roof. 

Gray eyes met turquoise.

Then the girl turned and bolted towards her front door. 

.oOo.

_ “So… Boris.” _

_ “Yes, Miss Kagemori?” _

_ “Where the heck are we going?” _

_ “Far away from those men, to someplace safe.” _

_ “Right… And… how did you know I was in there again?” _

_ “That’s not important now. Let’s keep moving. It’s not safe here.” _

_ “Right… Sure.” _

.oOo.

“Dammit,” Shirou hissed under his breath as he leaped across the gap between the two buildings in wolf form, rushing to cut the tanuki-cheetah girl off. Only, when he reached the far edge of the other rooftop, it was to see the tanuki girl leap out of the fourth story window with teal wings sprouting from her back. 

_ What the hell?! _

No time to waste; if she got too far in the air, he would lose her scent trail completely. Without hesitation, Shirou dove at the girl, fangs bared in a snarl. She glanced up just a moment too late to dodge, those turquoise eyes wide as he caught her around the waist and dragged her towards the ground with his own body weight. 

“Let go of me!” the girl cried, as she twisted violently in his grip, wings flapping frantically in their efforts to beat him off, her voice high and panicked. If she was a terrorist, then she definitely wasn’t a professional. 

“What the hell are you trying to do in my city?!” Shirou snarled, grabbing the base of her wings and locking the joints to force her to tumble to the ground. The girl uttered a sharp cry of pain as she crashed against the concrete, still bucking and shoving against his grip. 

“Let me go! I’m not going back; you can’t make me!”

“Go back-? Oof!”

Shirou recoiled in surprise more than pain as the girl’s arm suddenly morphed and smashed into his cheek, considerably larger than a tanuki or cheetah or any kind of bird. It looked more like-

“Gorilla arms? So are you  _ Sara _ as well?”

The tanuki girl didn’t stick around to answer. Before he could blink, her wings had retracted and her legs had morphed into cheetah’s as she twisted to her knees and then was suddenly on her feet, dashing out of the alley. Shirou growled softly before he raced after her. She was  _ fast _ on those legs, but not fast enough to outpace  _ him. _ Eventually, with another sharp cry, he had managed to tackle to the ground once again, pinning her against the concrete. “Just what are you?” he growled.

“Let go of me! I already told Boris I wasn’t gonna do it, so just leave me  _ alone!” _

“Boris? Who the hell is Boris?”

“What? You mean you… You’re not…?” the tanuki girl panted, clearly flustered as her legs morphed back to a tanuki’s. A strange, bluish light flickered around her legs as she did, much like when she transformed into the Silver Wolf. What even was that? Although frankly, that was not his foremost concern at the moment.

Not when she suddenly went limp, her eyes rolling back as she slumped against the ground. 

.oOo.

_ “I want you to take on a wolf form when I introduce you to my friends.” _

_ “Okay… Why a wolf?” _

_ “Wolves are noble creatures, and they are especially revered among our community. It will help you to fit in more easily.”  _

_ “…Right. Sure. Totally believe that. Look, I appreciate the help, but I’m not sure I-” _

_ “I can understand that you do not trust me as of yet, Miss Kagemori, but I can promise that you will in time.” _

_ “…Yeah. Whatever.” _

.oOo.

“Jem! Melissa!” Shirou barked as he kicked the entrance of the Beastman Cooperative shut behind him.

“Mr. Shirou? What's going-? Oh my goodness!” Melissa gasped in surprise as she rounded the corner, one hand falling over her heart and the other over her mouth before she rushed up to them. “Where on earth did the poor girl come from? By the Silver Wolf, she’s burning up!”

“Melissa? Shirou? Oh my! Who’s this? A newcomer?”

“I’m not sure. I found her on my way here,” the wolf beastman grunted as he laid the tanuki girl on the couch. Kuro chirped, eyes frowning at him, but Shirou just shrugged. It technically wasn’t a lie, but it was definitely still a stretch of the truth. He stepped back as Melissa bustled forward, her arms loaded with spare blankets and pillows. Jem, in the meantime, headed to the kitchen to fill a bowl with ice water and grab a rag to drape over the girl’s face.

“Honestly Shirou, why didn’t you just take the girl to the Medical Center?” Melissa scolded, lifting the girl’s head to slip a pillow underneath it and tucking a heavy heavy quilt around her feverish body. “Just look at the state of her!”

“Under the circumstances, I wanted to get her story before taking her there,” Shirou replied flatly, although he couldn’t deny that the koala beastman had a point. He’d checked her over when she first lost consciousness. Her pulse had been light and fluttery, her breaths shallow and weak, her skin flushed with heat, her fur slick, and her eyes dull and glazed.  _ But still… _ “I need to make a call.”

Melissa waved him off, muttering something about broth and tea before heading back towards the kitchen, where Jem was emerging. He and Shirou exchanged nods while the former headed to his own office, pulling out his phone as he walked. 

_ “Ogami?”  _ a familiar voice picked up on the third ring.

“Mayor,” Shirou acknowledged briefly. “I’ve found the girl that can turn into the Silver Wolf.”

_ “And? What are your thoughts on her? Is she… like you?” _

“No, I don’t think so,” the wolf beastman sighed, flopping down in his armchair, “but she’s certainly unusual.”

_ “Unusual how?” _

“It’s not just the Silver Wolf. She can transform at will into a variety of different animal forms.”

_ “…Is that even possible?” _

“That’s what I thought. Until she sprouted wings from her back and transformed from a cheetah into a tanuki.”

_ “Well then. What did she have to say about this strange ability of hers?” _

“I don’t know yet. She passed out moments after I caught her.”

_ “Passed out?” _

“She has a serious fever and showed signs of acute exhaustion. I’ve brought her to the Beastman Co-op for now, at least until she wakes up and we can learn more about her. When that happens, I’d appreciate your input, too.”

_ “Of course. Send for me whenever you think she’s ready, and I’ll examine her.” _

“Thank you.”

.oOo.

_ “Brother Boris! Welcome back, sir!” _

_ “It is good to be back amongst my brethren.” _

_ “Brother Boris, who is this?” _

_ “Oh! Um, my name is-” _

_ “This is Miss Déesse Louvre. She would like to join our order.” _

_ “Miss  _ what  _ now?” _

_ “Miss Louvre. It’s wonderful to have you. If you would please come with me, we can get you some new clothes and a Silver Wolf talisman.” _

_ “A… A what?” _

_ “A talisman. Each member of the Church of the Silver Wolf has one. It’s how we are able to recognize our fellow believers.” _

_ “I see. So, um, is this Boris guy, like, your leader?” _

_ “Yes, for now.” _

_ “For now?” _

_ “Brother Boris has prophesied that one day the Silver Wolf shall come and lead us personally! Oh how I long for that day to come.” _

_ “How will you know when the… Silver Wolf has come?” _

_ “Oh, we will know! Brother Boris has declared that it will be a wolf beastman capable of taking the form of a giant silver wolf that will protect all beastmen from pain and despair and lead us to a land of paradise for our kind, just as the legends say!” _

_ “Right. I see now.” _

.oOo.

Shirou opened his eyes at the sound of a low gasp.

He instinctively shifted to his beastman form, his sharp wolf eyes more accustomed to the darkness that pervaded the main room of the Beastman Co-op than his human ones. It took hardly a moment to focus in on the disturbance, seeing the tanuki girl floundering in the veritable  _ ocean _ of blankets that Melissa had insisted on as she tried to figure out where she was and what was happening in a sleep-and-fever disoriented haze. He relaxed upon the realization that there were no threats in the building, morphing back to normal.

“Hey,” he called softly, straightening up in the armchair that he had claimed for the night. The tanuki girl visibly flinched, her head snapping around towards him, her turquoise eyes gleaming a pinkish color in the moonlight coming through the window. She instinctively pressed back against the couch, half-rising on one elbow, every muscle tense and coiled like she was getting ready to attack him. “Calm down,” he sighed, settling back against his chair. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Wh-ere a-am I?” the girl whispered, her voice cracking with dryness. 

“There’s water on the table behind you. And you’re at the Beastman Cooperative.”

There was a pause before the tanuki girl carefully straightened up, groaning softly as she did so, one hand hovering by her head before she turned and reached for the cup of water that Melissa had left out. Shirou frowned as he watched her take a few gulps, then pull away, grimacing and setting the cup aside once again. “Is something wrong?”

“N-No. I just wasn’t expecting my throat to hurt so much,” came the soft reply. He didn’t think she was lying. She was still much too groggy to be very aware of what she was saying. Which might actually be to his advantage.

“So who are you anyway?” Shirou asked.

“K- Uh, that is, my name is Sara. I mean Nakano!” the girl squawked, her hands flailing and her eyes wide before she dropped her face in her hands and groaned weakly.

“Come on,” the wolf beastman sighed, hiding the small twitch at the corner of his mouth. “We both know that Sara and Nakano were just aliases. What’s your  _ real _ name?”

A pregnant pause filled the darkness between them. Shirou could feel the tanuki girl’s eyes on him, searching his face, his posture. “You first,” she finally said, a hint of steel entering her voice. “Who are you? And why were you hunting me?”

The wolf beastman paused, considering. He supposed it would be fine to tell her his name and affiliation at least. If he could win her trust at least in that small degree, then maybe she would be more willing to tell him more about that strange transformation ability of hers. “Ogami Shirou. And I was investigating the rumors of the Silver Wolf appearing in the slums.”

“Investigating? So, you’re some kind of cop?”

“Not exactly. I’m more of an advisor. I’m not officially on the police force, but I do get called in to help from time to time.”

The girl nodded slowly, processing that information as she slowly pulled the quilts up around her shoulders. “So why investigate the Silver Wolf?”

“The Silver Wolf is considered sacred by many of the beastman people,” Shirou shrugged. “The mayor was concerned that if someone was claiming to be the Silver Wolf, it might result in trouble.” 

“I see,” the girl murmured. “I guess that makes sense.” 

“Your turn then,” Shirou prompted when the silence stretched too long. “Who are you?”

The girl huddled a little bit deeper in the blankets, her eyes distant and unseeing as she stared at the floor. “Michiru,” she whispered finally. “Kagemori Michiru. That’s my real name.”

.oOo.

_ “So you’re saying… You’re saying you want me to  _ pretend  _ to be this… Silver Wolf? So, what, you can…  _ manipulate _ all these beastmen?” _

_ “Not at all, Miss Déesse Louvre. I mean to have you give hope to those beastmen that feel lost and confused in this world. You must know that in most countries, beastmen are still treated horribly by their separate governments and peoples. The legends of the Silver Wolf give them that hope, but if the true Silver Wolf were to appear-” _

_ “But I’m  _ not _ the true Silver Wolf! I’m not even technically a beastman; I’m human! I’m not even gonna stay here for forever; I’ve gotta go home, and I can’t do that to these people! I won’t raise their hopes just to crush them later!” _

_ “But Miss Dées-” _

_ “Stop calling me that! And I said  _ no! _ No way, no how. I don’t  _ care _ if you ‘rescued’ me or whatever; it’s suspicious that you even knew I was in that place and it’s even more suspicious that you know how to  _ train  _ my ability! I don’t  _ know _ you, and I  _ definitely  _ don’t trust you! You’re just trying to use me the same way that those creeps were and I’m not gonna roll over and let you do that!” _

_ “Miss-” _

_ “Don’t touch me! I’m leaving this place, and you won’t stop me!” _

_ “Miss Déesse Louvre!” _

.oOo.

“Miss Kagemori Michiru, correct?” the mayor smiled faintly, extending a hand towards the girl still sitting on the couch, carefully sipping from a bowl of broth that Melissa brought her early that morning, her eyes very wide as she stared up at the naked mole rat beastman. “My name is Barbara Rose, mayor of Anima-City. Mr. Ogami informed me about you this morning.”

“O-Oh! Um, well, i-it’s nice to meet you, mayor!” the tanuki girl squeaked--a little huskily due to her sore throat--quickly thrusting a hand out to shake, then just as quickly retracting it. “A-Actually, I’m still kinda sick; you probably don’t wanna touch me.”

The mayor chuckled softly, retracting her own hand as well. “You’re probably right. At my age, it would do me no favors to catch a cold.”

“You can’t be  _ that _ old, Ms. Mayor.”

“You flatter me,” the woman laughed gently, taking a seat in the armchair that Shirou had long since abandoned, preferring to watch the strange young girl from his spot by the window, Kuro perched on his shoulder. “Now then. Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself, Miss Michiru?”

Kagemori blinked, then dropped her eyes to the mostly-empty bowl of broth in her lap, her little paw tightening around the spoon in her hand. “Well, um, how much did Shirou already tell you?”   
“Not much, I’m afraid. He seemed to think that it would be better for me to hear it from you.”

“I see,” the girl sighed, a hint of last night’s exhaustion creeping into her voice. Her fever may have broken some time that morning, but she and Shirou had still stayed awake for nearly another hour during the night, asking and (reluctantly) answering questions back and forth. He was pretty well-convinced that she wasn’t a terrorist of some kind, just a scared young girl doing her best to make it alone in a strange city while trying to steer clear of anyone that might be connected to her former captors, but he couldn’t deny that certain elements of her story seemed far too fantastic for even him to believe. Namely, the idea that-

“I used to be human,” the tanuki girl whispered.

Mayor Rose blinked and Shirou bit back a sigh.  _ That. _

“I understand if you don’t believe me, especially since I really have no way to prove-”

“I believe you.”

Both Shirou and Kagemori gaped at the mayor, frozen by her calm pronouncement. “You… You do?!”

Mayor Rose nodded, her pink eyes absolutely serious. “However, I would like to confirm one thing first. Miss Michiru, would you kindly return to your human form for me?”

The tanuki girl hesitated for a moment, then closed her eyes, sparks of bluish energy rushing across her body just like they had when she transformed the day before. It was nothing like a normal beastman’s transformation, Shirou would admit that, but how did that prove that she was human? When the light faded, a young woman of maybe seventeen or eighteen sat on the couch in front of them, her brown hair cut short around her chin and her eyes a dark, gleaming brown as she smiled nervously at them.

“I thought so,” Mayor Rose murmured quietly, unlocking her tablet and passing it to the tanuki girl to see. Her brown eyes went wide as she looked at it, then silent tears began to gather in her eyes unheeded. “Is something wrong?”

“N-No,” the girl shook her head vigorously, swiping at her cheeks as she did. “It’s just… I haven’t seen my family in so  _ long…” _

Curious, Shirou stepped away from the window, maneuvering to peer over the girl’s shoulder. The table was open to an old news report, about how high school student Kagemori Michiru had gone suddenly missing, and how the only witness to the event, her friend Hiwatashi Nazuna, claimed she had been kidnapped by three men in dark suits with a black van. Kagemori Michiru was reported to have been wearing shorts, a white tanktop, and a red jacket at the time.

Most importantly, judging by the pictures of her school ID and her family included in the article, she was definitely human. 

“That’s not possible,” Shirou frowned.

“Not probable, certainly,” the mayor agreed, taking the tablet back as the now-tanuki beastman offered it back to her, blue sparks covering her body as she morphed back to her animal form. “However, seeing as the proof sits right before us, I don’t believe that we can say ‘not possible’ anymore.”

“This could be incredibly dangerous. If the anti-beastman front finds out-”

“I’ve been careful,” the girl interrupted quietly. “I know that I messed up a few days ago, but aside from that one time, I haven’t let anyone see my ability to transform. I haven’t even let anyone see my human face, just in case.”

“I believe you,” the mayor said again. “If there were any rumors about a beastman that could change their shape at will, then I would have heard them long before now. Miss Michiru, could you tell us what happened to you?

“I wish,” Kagemori sighed, rubbing her thumb along the ridge of her bowl, “but I really have no idea how this happened. Until a year and a half ago, I was a normal human. Then, one day, I just… woke up and turned into this. A couple of days later, these strange men showed up and took me away to some kind of facility. They started doing these experiments on my blood and then made me do all these tests, putting me in high-stress situations. I had no idea what it was about until one day they dropped me from about fifty feet up and suddenly my tail grew to cushion the fall. Eventually, they were able to get me to start transforming at will. At first it was weird things like making my arms really long or making my ears grow, but as I got used to the feeling, they had me try taking the forms of different animals.”

“So that’s how you learned to turn into the Silver Wolf?”

“Yeah.”

“And, how did you end up in Anima-City?”

“One night, some guy named Cliff Boris managed to sneak into the facility and helped me escape. He took me to join his church, the Church of the Silver Wolf, and tried to make me pretend to be their Silver Wolf. I refused and ran away here. I’ve been living in hiding ever since.”

“Did this Cliff Boris ever mention  _ why  _ he wanted you to pretend to be the Silver Wolf?”   
“He said it was to ‘give hope to the beastmen’, but that never felt quite right to me. I know from talking to the other members of the Church that he prophesied that the Silver Wolf would one day lead them in person, so maybe he was just trying to… I dunno, up his cred in their organization? But I really couldn’t say for sure. I always found it weird that he somehow knew where to find me, not to mention that he knew what I could do. It always felt super sketchy, you know? Like there was always some secret agenda.”

“Where is the church now?” Shirou frowned.

“How should I know? I cut off all contact with them,” the girl shrugged, touching her throat with a slight grimace and reaching for her cup on the table.

“Do you have any idea who it may have been that captured you to begin with?” Mayor Rose asked.

The tanuki girl paused mid gulp, cheeks full of water for a moment before she slowly swallowed. “I couldn’t say for sure,” she said slowly.

“But you do have a guess,” Shirou noted, folding his arms over his chest.

The tanuki girl didn’t respond for a time. She just slowly chewed on her lip, glancing nervously between the two of them between dropping her eyes to the bowl that still rested in her lap. “The Sylvasta conglomerate,” she finally whispered.

Shirou’s eyes widened and Mayor Rose’s breath caught in surprise. 

“I don’t have any proof,” Kagemori continued, still not looking at either of them, “but while I was being held in that facility, I sometimes saw little tree symbols on things: clipboards, pencils, calendars,  _ lab coats. _ I know that’s not much to go on, and I know that it sounds stupid and crazy but… but Sylvasta does a lot of research into beastmen, right? And I’m the only human that’s ever somehow turned into one, so maybe…”

“It does make sense, in a weird sort of way,” Shirou acknowledged, side-eyeing the mayor as he did so. 

“It does,” Mayor Rose nodded, her hands tightening around the head of her cane. “The only question is if Sylvasta as a whole would be involved, or just a small group of rogue scientists?”

“It probably wouldn’t be wise to expose the situation before we can find that out.”

“Yes, I agree. Michiru, tell no one about your ability, understand? No one beyond this room.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Also, I think it would be wise if you stayed here for the time being.”

“What?” Shirou blinked.

“What?!” the girl squeaked, her voice cracking with her cold. “B-But I just put down a security deposit at my new apartment and-!”

“The municipal office will handle that for you,” the mayor interrupted smoothly. “I would feel a lot more comfortable about this entire situation knowing that Ogami was around to keep an eye on you. It’s not safe for you to be living alone, especially not now.”

“I… I understand, I guess,” Kagemori nodded, wringing her cup in both hands, “but do I have to quit my new job? I’d feel a lot better about this whole business if I was, you know, earning my keep.”

“That should be fine,” Mayor Rose smiled approvingly. “You can talk to Mr. Jem and Mrs. Melissa if you still want to pay rent. In the meantime, if you would allow me, I can start studying your blood to see if we can determine exactly what happened to you.”

“Huh?”

“The mayor is an authority in the field of beastman genetics,” Shirou explained briefly. “She’s the first beastman to have earned a doctorate.”

“I see. I guess that’s alright, then.”

“Thank you, Miss Michiru,” the mayor smiled gently. “And thank you for confiding in us. If you ever need help while you’re in Anima-City, just know that you have allies in the four of us. Or, well, five of us counting Kuro here.”

The tanuki girl smiled faintly, the last of the tension in her shoulders finally fading away. “Thank you, Mayor Rose. And you, Shirou.”

“For what?”

“For everything,” she shrugged, her small smile turning almost playful. “It’s been a long time since… well, since I’ve felt  _ hopeful, _ you know? I mean it.  _ Thank you, _ Shirou.”

Shirou blinked, taken off guard by the new flood warmth and brightness in those turquoise eyes.  _ Oh no, _ he realized suddenly, quickly tearing his gaze away from hers.  _ I’m never going to get away from this girl, am I. _

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I love BNA and I just had to get this errant thought down. Honestly, I don't have any intention of continuing this fic, so anyone who wants to pick up the idea and run with it or reinterpret it is welcome to! Have fun, guys!
> 
> Also, shameless plug here, if you like My Hero Academia, I have an ongoing work for that fandom too called Liar Liar. If you like what you see here, then feel free to check it out!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Kagamori Michiru, the Silver Wolf](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25464895) by [Nach0](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nach0/pseuds/Nach0)
  * [Duplicity](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25469323) by [Flintlocke](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flintlocke/pseuds/Flintlocke)




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